I’ve heard people say they want to read more positive news stories, but the numbers show Kitsap Sun readers still rely on us to bring them the bad news.

Crime stories usually rack up the most clicks, and 2017 was no different than other years. However, many of the most popular stories of human misery were of the “breaking news” variety, short, quick, to-the-point reporting on a single event.

Few of the more substantive local criminal justice stories showed up at the top of the year-end tallies.

For instance, KitsapSun.com’s most widely viewed story of 2017 was “Woman arrested after Gorst crash.” It was a bad car crash, many were seriously injured, and it backed up traffic on the highway for five hours that June morning. If you spent time in that traffic jam, as many did, or were injured or know somebody who was, that would be of high interest. The story itself, however, didn’t have a shelf life beyond a day or two.

Here is a quick review of the some of the more significant or interesting criminal justice stories of 2017 that may or may not have gotten the most clicks.

The Careaga family murders

Even though it was named top story of 2017, no list of significant crime stories could not place the quadruple, unsolved homicide in January at the top. The deaths of the family members shocked not just the community but made national news. What started as a 911 call for help and a house fire led investigators to find the three bodies of the blended Careaga family at their rural Central Kitsap house, including two teenage boys. The body of Johnny Careaga, the patriarch of the family, was found miles away off a remote country road in a burned-out truck. Detectives say they are confident the case will be solved.

In 2005 Apodaca’s mother, Janet Eaton, was murdered with a gun in Bremerton.

Another connection can be found in the reason Apodaca and Gilbert were allegedly together, driving around. Gilbert was trying to sell items said to have been bought with money stolen in Kitsap County’s biggest embezzlement case. Tracy Hatch was sentenced in January for swindling her Kingston employer for $1.1 million, money that was allegedly used to fund a lavish, reality TV lifestyle for her sons.

Personality profiles are my favorite kind of news stories because they can show how forces larger than one person can play out in the lives of individuals. This year I wrote two that could be positioned next to each other to show a contrast of the criminal justice world in Bremerton. First was a biography of Melanie, a woman who had worked for years as a prostitute in Bremerton, ending over the summer when she was sent to prison on drug charges, a prospect that gave her hope. Melanie’s body had been controlled by the child welfare system, drugs, pimps, clients, a husband, and the criminal justice system, and it was personally rewarding to hear feedback from people who were touched by her story.

Second was a profile of outgoing Bremerton Police Chief Steve Strachan, who in an interview earlier this month explained his views on law enforcement, where he sees both police and criminals as human, complex and vulnerable. Strachan shared a story of his first job in law enforcement, a 20-year-old graveyard shift jailer, who when the power went out on a hot summer night had to make a decision on how to keep the inmates in his care safe. Strachan is leaving the department, and his career as a cop, to lead the state's professional law enforcement organization, the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs.

The internet and the damage done IRL

Remember when we used computers, rather than the other way around? This year saw three Kitsap criminal cases with direct connection to the social media world, increasingly proving it can impact real life. The case of David Kalac, sentenced in May for murdering his girlfriend Amber Coplin in 2014, might have been another case of domestic violence. However, Kalac added a grim element when he took photos of Coplin’s lifeless, naked body and posted them on a website called 4chan, notorious for its racist and violent user content. During the trial, 4chan founder Christopher Poole was summoned to court in Port Orchard to testify, explaining to jurors how the bulletin board website works with member posts. In Kitsap County, the case is remembered for the death of Coplin, but outside Kalac will likely be known as the “4chan killer” and the photos will persist. “It will never go away,” a prosecutor said. “The impact on this family and this world will never go away.” Kalac testified that he could not remember posting the photos because of alcohol dependence.

Facebook and other social media have become battlegrounds, with wild and extreme comments flying between strangers, but authorities allege a man went too far. He was charged with a felony for allegedly threatening a Kitsap County sheriff’s deputy on the Kitsap Sun’s Facebook page. Michael Martin, a pinball arcade employee with “anarchist capitalist” posts on his Facebook page was apparently upset in December when a federal court jury found that a former sheriff’s deputy did not use excessive force when subduing the wrong suspect in a car chase. Detectives arrested him the next day for felony harassment.

In 2017, Gaeta was found incompetent to stand trial, but after a stay at Western State Hospital, where he was medicated, he returned to the Kitsap County Jail able to understand the charges against him and help his attorney.

Gaeta’s mental health has been a factor in the length of the case, although others have pushed back his trial. The massive search for Jenise when she was reported missing generated stacks of documents that must be digested by attorneys. However, in order to discuss a resolution to the case, attorneys have had to also review rules about sentencing a juvenile, as higher courts have ruled juveniles cannot be given “effective” life sentences. Gaeta is scheduled for trial in February.